How wording can make a difference in ads

The short story on framing messages for 

pro-environmental behavior 

“I hate the environment,” are not words one is likely to hear in our daily lives, yet all across the country, sustainable living and pro-environmental behaviors are not being utilized. There are a number of factors that influence our choices in regards to the environment. In the case of bottled water usage, dissatisfaction with the taste, health/risk concerns, perceived quality of the water source, trust in tap water companies, and demographic variables all play a part in why consumers choose bottled water over reusable water bottles.

Other factors that can influence positive or negative pro-environmental behavior are external factors, such as the economy, social and cultural factors, and infrastructure, or internal factors, such as motivation, knowledge, values, attitudes, and awareness. This is an overview of a recent study that used different types of advertising messages, positive or negative wording paired with singular or plural pronouns, in regards to reusable water bottles.

One factor to keep in mind is worded, which can cause people to choose different actions or form different attitudes. This is known as framing theory, which is the premise that issues can be communicated or perceived from numerous outlooks and can affect the way people process information. One way of framing messages is through positive or negative wording, which was the approach used in the study.

Another aspect of framing a message is through the choice of pronouns used. Advertising typically uses “you” to build a dialog with consumers, but Dr. James Pennebaker, a leading expert in the psychology of language use, has shown how “our” is used when we are thinking in a more collective manner. Making pro-environmental choices is more about the impact on the world as a whole, the long-term effect of our choices, and how our choices can affect others, all of which need a more collective thought process.

I did a study that paired a negative or positive messages with the pronouns “you” or “our” in ads (see ads below) for reusable water bottles to see what effect it had on how likely people were to use the product and on how fair people thought the ads were. Consumers want honesty in advertising and fairness is aspect of honesty; it is an internal value that people hold. If an ad is perceived as unfair, it will have a negative impact on how consumers view the brand.

The results show significant and consistent results in favor of plural pronouns such as “our” over singular pronouns such as “you” in the case of reusable water bottles, but there was no difference between using positive or negative wording. The plural pronoun was considered much more fair than the singular pronoun and increased likelihood to use the product. People used first-person plural pronouns when their focus is toward other people and may have been more persuasive due to pro-environmentalism being more focused on things outside of the individual. Changing how small words like “you” or “our” are used in advertising messages when trying to improve the environment is one small insight that has a significant impact and can be used going forward.